Web Site Details Nursing Home Information

Federal Initiative Aims To Help Family Decisions

As administrator of the Riverside Regional Convalescent Center in Newport News, Lynda Burton regularly meets with families as they try to choose a nursing home for a loved one.

They're confused and often feeling guilty. Some have never been in a nursing home before. A lot of them cry as they walk down the hallways.

"It certainly is an emotional time," Burton said. "The more work you can do in advance to determine the type of home you're looking for, the better."

Enter a new Web site, one that will offer Virginia residents detailed information on individual nursing homes. The site is part of an initiative by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to improve nursing home care across the country.

The data includes problems found at each home during recent state inspections, patient-staff ratios and details such as the percentage of residents who experience pain or bedsores. Information is drawn from inspection reports and regular surveys of nursing home residents.

"It is data that has been collected for many years," said Joy Hogan Rozman, chief executive officer of the Virginia Health Quality Center, or VHQC, a Richmond-based group that works to improve the quality of nursing homes in the state. "However, the decision to make it available to the public is groundbreaking for both the nursing home industry and consumers."

Close to 28,000 people in Virginia live in the state's 282 Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing homes. While many homes provide good care, horror stories about abuse and neglect --including bedsores, soiled sheets, overworked staff and ignored patients -- terrify families.

The Web site covers the number of residents with infections, pain or bedsores, how many are in physical restraints and what percentage lose some ability to do basic daily tasks while in the home. The site, to be updated quarterly, then compares that data to state and national percentages.

Locally, many nursing homes did well in some areas and worse in others. One local home had 22 percent of patients with bedsores compared to the state's 10 percent average, but the home reported no patients in physical restraints compared to 7 percent of patients statewide.

The VHQC and nursing home administrators caution that because some homes specialize in certain types of patients or care, they may naturally have more people with problems than others.

That's why the Web site should be just one resource for families, Rozman said.

"They also should make a point of visiting the nursing home and asking questions," she said.

Virginia's nursing homes welcome the program, said Stephen C. Morrisette, president of the Virginia Health Care Association. The VHCA represents 90 percent of the nursing home providers in the state.

"We've not had access to national data like this before," he said. "We're looking forward to see how we compare. We think we're going to compare favorably."

The data is part of a federal nursing home quality improvement initiative launched in April as a pilot program in six states. It now covers all states. The effort also will give families good questions to ask when looking at homes, such as whether residents have the same caregivers on a daily basis and how quickly staff responds to calls for help.

Morrisette said nursing home providers want consumers to have more information.

"The better the data is," he said, "the better the nursing homes will be able to use that data to improve quality."

NURSING HOME SEARCH TIPS

* Take the potential resident to visit nursing homes before a decision is made. The visit can give the family insight on the relative's wishes and ease fears.

* Visit as many homes as possible. Visit at different times and on weekends, when many homes reduce staff and services.

* Ask nursing home residents, residents' families, community advocacy groups, your physician and clergy members what they think about various facilities.

* Contact the long-term care ombudsman in your community. The federal Older Americans Act requires each state to have an ombudsman program to serve as an advocate for residents of nursing homes, board and care homes and assisted living. The ombudsman might have a directory of facilities in your area and information about problems particular facilities might be having.

* Look at state inspection reports which should be available from the facility itself, the ombudsman or at www.medicare.gov

* Know that the 1987 Nursing Home Reform Law established rights for nursing home residents to ensure quality care. Nursing homes must meet residents' rights requirements to participate in Medicare and Medicaid.

* If you do not have a computer, a library or senior citizen center may be able to help you find information. Or call 1-800-MEDICARE and a customer service representative will read the information to you.

- By The Associated Press

GETTING INFO

* To reach the Web site with nursing home information, go to www.medicare.gov. Once there, click on "nursing homes" and then on "nursing homes compare." Follow the prompts to find homes in specific states and regions, using the city or county, ZIP code or name of a nursing home. Once you have a list of nursing homes in an area, pick those you want to see by choosing "view all information for this nursing home."

* People also can request a hard copy of the data -- and a copy of Medicare's "How to Choose a Nursing Home" book -- by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).

Daily Press staff writer Hugh Lessig contributed to this report.

Alison Freehling can be reached at 247-4789 or by email at afreehling@dailypress.com